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The Combine: What Lies Ahead

by
Adam Kimelman
/ Philadelphia Flyers

The Flyers Hockey Ops staff are currently at the NHL combine preparing for the draft later this month.

The Philadelphia Flyers won't make their first selection at the 2011 Entry Draft until late in the third round, but that hasn't stopped GM Paul Holmgren from taking the time to interview some of the top prospects here in Toronto at the NHL Scouting Combine.

"We've been spending time talking to guys that are going to go high in the first round because you never know," Holmgren told NHL.com. "We're here, all these players are here, might as well get to know them a little bit. You never know. Even if you don't draft a guy or move up, you never know what might come down the road, in a trade, maybe it's two or three years from now. Any time you get a chance to interact with these young players it's good."

Holmgren referenced the 2002 Entry Draft as an example of the unpredictability of the draft. That year, he was the club's assistant GM when the team didn't have a first-round pick but did have a pair of second-round choices. On draft day, they sent those choices along with forward Ruslan Fedotenko to the Tampa Bay Lightning for the fourth pick of the draft and selected Joni Pitkanen.

"You have to approach it like anything can happen," said Holmgren. "That's the way we've always done it. You never really do know what might happen. We went into the draft in 2002 and we ended up with the fourth pick. You have to know the players. Scouts have their jobs to do. They continue to do them, look at all the players and prepare for any scenario that might come up."

Holmgren said he didn't know how possible it would be for him to move up. He traded first- and third-round picks to Toronto in the Kris Versteeg deal, and their second-round pick was sent to Phoenix in 2009 as part of the Daniel Carcillo trade.

"You never know what might happen," said Holmgren. "It varies. Certain teams are in different spots. I just think you need to be open-minded about these things. Are first-round picks coveted? I would say sometimes yes, sometimes no."